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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23237731">Mismatched Socks</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/krissuwu/pseuds/krissuwu'>krissuwu</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>EXO (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Brief Smut, Disabled Character, Domestic, Fluff, M/M, brief reference to depression, rainy day, this is shameless chanyeol worship</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 02:49:15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,560</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23237731</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/krissuwu/pseuds/krissuwu</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>On days like this, when it rains, and the striking lightning chases the rabbits down the mountain, when Baekhyun has to take his afternoon tea inside instead of out on the porch with his plants, his mind tends to wander.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Byun Baekhyun/Park Chanyeol</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>82</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Mismatched Socks</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>hi everyone!!! it was raining last night and i thought i'd write soft domestic chanbaek. enjoi! :&gt;)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>On days like this, when it rains, and the striking lightning chases the rabbits down the mountain, when Baekhyun has to take his afternoon tea inside instead of out on the porch with his plants, his mind tends to wander.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>And when it wanders, he does the laundry, although it is tedious, and he is marginally slower than the average person. He folds his shirts, hangs up his pants, and tucks his socks back into their drawers. The cactus and penguin prints have lost their partner. Baekhyun huffs as he tucks the lonely socks away. They seem to be doing that a lot lately, running away on someone else’s feet. Someone who doesn’t seem to care about the importance of having a matching pair.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>When the laundry is finished, and there is nothing new to do, then Baekhyun truly gets lost in his long and wandering thoughts. He makes himself a new cup of tea (the supply of teabags is running low, Baekhyun has a tea problem), and sits on the worn sofa under a worn blanket, and thinks, and pines.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>By all lines of good logic and reasoning, Byun Baekhyun and Park Chanyeol could </span>
  <em>
    <span>never </span>
  </em>
  <span>be together. Baekhyun could steal the book of life and destiny from God himself to rewrite the stars, and him and Chanyeol would still be living in different universes. They were the perfect definition of opposites: sun and moon, fire and water, day and night. Mismatched socks.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Baekhyun opens his laptop in hopes of getting some work done. Working from home was a blessing; he didn’t have to walk anywhere, and could drink all the tea he wanted. Currently, he’s writing a romance novel. On the surface, Baekhyun didn’t look like a romantic, or act like one, either, but he liked to think there was more to him than what was on the surface level.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Byun Baekhyun was small and quiet, laughs barely escaping his teeth, hidden behind his long, crooked fingers. On the outside, he was all soft lines and curves, but his heart and tongue were sharper than lightning.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Park Chanyeol, Baekhyun thinks, couldn’t be more different than him if he were from Jupiter. He was tall and lean, loud and boisterous. If Baekhyun was lightning, Chanyeol was the thunder that came after, booming in the way he talks, the way he laughs. A match made in Hell.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The alarm on Baekhyun’s watch chimes, letting him know it was time to take his medication. He sets down his tea, and pads towards the bathroom, the sound of his soft footsteps interrupted by the clicking of the cane against the wooden floor. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Growing up, Baekhyun was, in all definitions of the word, rich. He lived in a giant house, with a small family, that grew smaller as time went by. According to most people, Baekhyun had it all: money, family, looks. This was one area about Baekhyun that he knew was not what it appeared on the surface. In his freshman year of high school, Fate had taken his leg, and Chance had stolen away with his father. The famed Byun mansion was hollow and empty, the mourners it housed only crossing paths once a week or so, passing by like ships in the night.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Park Chanyeol knew. He knew how lonely Baekhyun was. He knew how he suffered every day learning to walk on one leg. Because Fate may have left Baekhyun bare, but it also brought them together.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>They were from different worlds. Chanyeol lived with his parents, grandparents, and his sister in a  small apartment on the other side of the city. He was popular and played sports; he was everything Baekhyun </span>
  <em>
    <span>wished</span>
  </em>
  <span> he could be. They met by coincidence: assigned class project partners. It didn’t take long for them to become best friends.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Baekhyun looked at himself in the mirror, picking off the crumbs still on his face from his breakfast. He smiled. Opposites indeed.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Losing his leg put him out of working at most places. Thankfully, Baekhyun was a decent writer. It does get lonely here in this big house, though, when he works alone all day, waiting for the sunset to come.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The house in question sat atop a mountain, rolling with mist in the springtime, gathering thick clouds to match the thunder and lightning inside of it.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The thunder wouldn’t give in to the lightning easily, they roiled and tumbled on the mountain; and although Baekhyun could, and </span>
  <em>
    <span>would</span>
  </em>
  <span>, give Chanyeol the world, he had to settle on a house, the most the latter would allow him to spend on him.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Like clockwork, by four-thirty, Baekhyun settled himself at the kitchen table, spending the last minutes before sundown with his sketchbook. His hands subconsciously always drew the same thing; familiar hard lines and bowed legs, bat-ears and owl-eyes littered every page of his sketchbook. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Now, </span>
  <em>
    <span>this </span>
  </em>
  <span>time of day was when Baekhyun felt the most anxious. By all signs and signals from the universe, Park Chanyeol should never have fallen for him. Baekhyun was damaged goods, battered and beaten, he had only grains of sand to offer, but like the endless ocean, Chanyeol took it anyways, and treasured his grains of sand like they were bright, shimmering pearls.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Baekhyun was shaken from his thoughts when the front door opened, the thunderstorm himself entering the house. “Hey, Babe, I’m hoooome!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“How many times do I have to tell you to </span>
  <em>
    <span>not </span>
  </em>
  <span>call me ‘babe’.” Baekhyun groaned, unable to fight the smile creeping on his face.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Chanyeol crossed the room, dropping his work bag on the kitchen counter and bending down to kiss Baekhyun. The latter sighed happily, reaching up to cradle Chanyeol’s face as he kissed him back. “Sorry, </span>
  <em>
    <span>Babe</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” The taller’s breath kissed Baekhyun’s lips. “How can I make it up to you?” He kissed the mole on the corner of Baekhyun’s mouth.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Make me dinner?” The smaller suggested, pulling back from the kiss to give his boyfriend his best puppy-dog eyes.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Fine.” Chanyeol mock rolled his eyes.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The rain still poured outside, but inside it was warm. Warm as Chanyeol made his boyfriend his favorite food, as Baekhyun watched him affectionately, his heart doing weird little leaps when the taller man turned around to smile at him while they talked about their days.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Last month Chanyeol told him he loved him, and Baekhyun hadn’t been able to say it back. He definitely felt a deep sense of </span>
  <em>
    <span>affection </span>
  </em>
  <span>for the tall man. He’d been through a lifetime of heartbreak, a heartbreak that Chanyeol knew well and understood. Baekhyun knew Chanyeol would wait for him until the end of time. He trusted him. He didn’t have to wait for the stars to align themselves for Baekhyun to love him, he had all the time in the world to wait.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>As they ate, they talked like they always did, Chanyeol complained about his coworkers, about how his sister kept calling him while he was busy, and “</span>
  <em>
    <span>why is it so hard to find corgis for sale here?</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Chanyeol had a subconscious habit of playing footsie with Baekhyun under the table, and Baekhyun glanced down and saw his socks. One pair of cactus print, one pair of penguin print. The sight made Baekhyun’s heart flip like </span>
  <em>
    <span>crazy</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Revelations didn’t always come in a laboratory, they weren’t always from a great mind making the discovery of a lifetime, or from Baekhyun finally figuring out the solution to a plot in one of his novels.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Sometimes revelations come at the kitchen table, when you notice your lover wearing your mismatched socks. And then, suddenly, it’s there. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>After dinner, they wash the dishes together, Baekhyun washing, and Chanyeol drying, the former’s cane set aside nearby. When Chanyeol puts the last plate away, Baekhyun grabs his arm, pulling him close, winding his arms around the taller’s neck and pulling him down into a kiss. The way Chanyeol sighs dreamily when their lips meet, the way his arms find their way to Baekhyun’s hips, give Baekhyun the courage to say it.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I love you.” He whispers against Chanyeol’s lips.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He feels Chanyeol’s wide, bright smile more than he sees it. “I love you, too.” He whispers back, and Baekhyun </span>
  <em>
    <span>swoons </span>
  </em>
  <span>at the way his voice cracks at the end. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Later that night, they lay tangled in bed, Chanyeol’s moans rolling like thunder as he moved above Baekhyun, head thrown back and lips parted. The smaller peppered him with kisses and “</span>
  <em>
    <span>I love yous</span>
  </em>
  <span>”, pouring profusely from him now that he’s finally confessed.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>They come together, and Baekhyun sees stars, hanging around his boyfriend as if they had created their own galaxy. Chanyeol pulls off of him and collapses against his chest, breaths heavy as he comes down from the high. Their eyes meet, and Baekhyun can’t stop the smile that takes over at the sight of his lover’s sweaty hair, wide pupils, and kiss-swollen lips. Chanyeol returns the smile, rolling over and pulling Baekhyun into his chest simultaneously.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>As Chanyeol falls asleep, Baekhyun thanks the universe for bringing them together. Turns out he </span>
  <em>
    <span>didn’t </span>
  </em>
  <span>have to rewrite the stars for Chanyeol to love him. They were sun and moon, fire and water, day and night. Mismatched socks. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Maybe it </span>
  <em>
    <span>was </span>
  </em>
  <span>true that opposites attract. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>If Chanyeol was the sun, and Baekhyun was the moon, it was a privilege to bask in his warmth.</span>
</p>
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